One More For The Road by Delilah Blake

Author:Delilah Blake [Blake, Delilah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-30T05:00:00+00:00

Crreeeeeaakkkk.

My eyes flutter open against the black until I’m able to make out the shadowed shape of a dark figure stepping through the door. I don’t move, my body rigid with fear, my cheek resting against Jesse’s shirt like an old brick. I take a deep breath, lungs nearly bursting, ready to scream if necessary, but the intruder turns and through the moonlight streaming in from the small window I’m able to see him put a finger to his lips.

“Don’t scream. It’s me.”

My head throbs with the unwanted consequence of too much to drink. “I wasn’t going to,” I groan. The watch on the nightstand shines indigo blue. “Fuck, Jesse. It’s four in the morning.”

“Sorry for waking you.”

I sit up and rub my eyes. “Must’ve been one hell of walk. Where did you go?”

“All over town.” He lingers by the door, not bothering to turn on the light.

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say to me? You were gone for almost six hours! I thought you’d left, and I was on my own again.”

“I would never just abandon you,” he says. One look in his eyes tells me it’s the truth.

“Well then…where were you?”

“If you must know, I walked around for about an hour or so before finally ending up at a bar. The Silver Cowboy or Silver Bullet. I don’t know. Something silver.”

“You spent the night in a bar?”

“I didn’t spend the night there,” he says. “I mean, I definitely could have. It was probably nicer than this hotel room. The kind of place where you order highballs and expect Barry Manilow to be playing a piano in the lounge.” He flops down in the chair across the room, slightly drunk. Or drained. Either way, I don’t like it. I want to cheer him up, hear him laugh, make him smile so I can selfishly have my sun back.

“I found us a ride for tomorrow,” he says after a long moment.

My tongue gets the best of me. “Did Barry offer to take us along?”

“No, smartass.” He slips farther down into the chair. “But they agreed to drive us as far as Cedar City.”

They?

“They seem… nice.” He selects the description with care and for a moment, I wonder why. “Now, can you please toss me a pillow? I’m tired and they’re meeting us at 9:00 in front of Trader Joe’s.”

I give an exasperated sigh and hold his pillow to my chest. “I said you didn’t have to sleep in the chair, Jesse, and I meant it.”

My body practically aches at the premise of sleeping next to a man. I want the warmth that comes from it, the feeling of safety and the deep sleep that follows it.

He inhales a long and slow breath. “I know,” he answers simply. “But I think it’s probably better if I sleep over here tonight, okay?”

“You don’t think I can keep my hands to myself.” It isn’t a question.

“I don’t know if I can,” he murmurs through the black.

I hurl the pillow across the room.

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